Shloka 32
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
वाप्या जल क्षिप्पति वालकोट्या त्वह्ला सकृच्चाप्यथ न द्वितीयम् । तासां क्षये विद्धि परं विसर्ग संहारमेक॑ च तथा प्रजानाम्
vāpyā jalaṁ kṣippati vālakoṭyā tv ahlā sakṛc cāpy atha na dvitīyam | tāsāṁ kṣaye viddhi paraṁ visargaṁ saṁhāram ekaṁ ca tathā prajānām ||
Bhīṣma said: “Just as a child, with the edge of his hand, may splash water from a pond only once and not a second time in the same way, so know this: when their store is exhausted, there follows the final discharge and a single, inevitable withdrawal—so too with living beings.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Life and its sustaining ‘stock’ are finite; when that reserve is exhausted, there is a final release (visarga) followed by dissolution (saṁhāra). Recognizing this, one should live ethically with restraint and urgency in dharma rather than complacency.
Bhīṣma is instructing (in Śānti Parva’s didactic setting) using a simple analogy: a child can splash out pond-water once, but when the available water is depleted it cannot be repeated. Likewise, beings have a limited allotment; once it runs out, the final letting-go and dissolution occur.